Existing home robotic systems provide users with a number of useful services, most commonly including automated vacuuming or lawn mowing performed by a mobile robotic device. The potential applications of these home robotic systems are plentiful, yet existing home robot platforms are often limited to direct user input, preset schedules, and particularly designated functionalities. For example, automated vacuuming robots are limited to vacuuming functionalities, and may only operate based on strict user inputted schedules.
As many homes and businesses are increasingly using smart home systems to monitor occupancy, temperature, and a number of other building parameters, it may be useful to provide a means for linking these smart home systems to existing mobile robot platforms such that additional home or business functionalities may be carried out by the robotic systems. Additionally, it may be beneficial to provide a means by which operation schedules for existing mobile robot platforms may be set or updated based on relevant home or property parameters, such as occupancy status, without the need for user input. For example, users may wish to limit vacuuming functionality of an automated vacuum robot system to periods of time during which the house is unoccupied. While preset scheduling functions may allow for this functionality in many instances, preset schedules may not account for unscheduled user arrivals or departures. By providing communication means between occupancy monitoring systems already in place in smart home systems and existing home robot platforms, users may be able to direct a vacuuming robot, for example, to vacuum the house only when the home is determined to be unoccupied and to return to a base or charging station before the user returns, regardless of the time at which the house is unoccupied or for what duration of time the house remains unoccupied. In this way, the integration of existing smart home systems with existing home robot platforms may serve to increase the functionality of the systems to provide additional useful features to users.